Aconitum
by Selkies
Summary: In the shadows of night, under moonlight, all things are possible. Syaoran, a hunter of weres addicted to bloodlust and a were himself meets Sakura, holder of strange powers and a lone self-proclaimed fighter against weres. Things are not as they seem.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: _Cardcaptor Sakura _is owned by CLAMP and publisher Kodansha in Japan and not by me, since this is a fanfiction site, people should know this. However the story is mine, and any similarities to anything else, I didn't intentionally write them. Oh and were-wolves are an old old idea from who-knows-where.

Chapter One

Slash. Cut. Grind...and blood, running desperately, pumped by a dying heart. The crunch of bones underneath deadly fangs signified the end of the struggle, leaving only the sound of a rumbling growl in the park, silence echoed at the sudden cut-off of noise. The moonless night was suddenly illuminated as the heavy clouds opened to let light peek through, revealing a wolf with a blood-covered muzzle and the heavy shadow of a cooling body.

Syaoran, the wolf, dropped the limp neck of his enemy for the night. _Humph...He really didn't put up much of a fight, they're weakening, sending out pups to do their work. _

He mentally sighed at the bloody mess that needed to be cleaned up, _preferably before morning comes and all the little children become scarred for life. _After all, King Penguin Park wasn't known for its cadavers, he snorted in amusement.

"What's so funny?" came a voice out of the shadows. Syaoran heaved an even bigger sigh, this time the sound whistled through his nose, making a dog-like whine. _Tell me that is not Meiling..._He turned his amber eyes to the shadows and saw her, the dark being no obstacle for his wolf's eyes. She looked a little irritated _hah! A little irritated, an oxymoron for Meiling_ and she was frowning, the lines between her brows a testament. He growled a little in annoyance.

"You _know_ I was sent by Auntie, who was prompted by _your_ mother, who was warned by the Elder Clow Reed-san, who was worried about _your_ behaviour for the last few weeks." Meiling vexed in response to the unfriendly welcome.

Syaoran felt the old frustration bubbling up at remembering why Clow Reed suddenly took an interest in Syaoran's life. It has been centuries since the psychic Kaho, the avatar of Mother Nature, woke up with a new voice in her head, one spewing outrage at the parasitic humans running across the face of the Earth, destroying and taking without giving. To Kaho's horror, She possessed her body and used it as a vessel to curse the drudges of humanity by binding them with wolves, giving them the strength and hunting skills of the animal and the brutality and cunning of the humans. These mad beasts rampaged across the lands, killing humans in their way with no conscience by suppressing it with the wolf side, and creating chaos with the human side. The Li Clan, who first broke through the blood-lust, convinced Mother Nature through the possessed Kaho that humans were their children too and how innocents were suffering. The grief and regret caused Her to lose control over Her creations, and they became creatures of cruelty, with the human suppressing the animal and using their abilities for greed.

_And so, that leads me to be stuck here some time in the early hours, when I could be in bed, my warm...soft...clean and cotton bed without an annoying cousin fire-breathing down my neck. _Syaoran gave Meiling a wolfy glare, flattened his ears too, for good measure and padded into the trees. Meiling scowled at his retreating furry back and threw, one-armed, the bundle of clothing she had brought with her, smacking Syaoran on the head. He ignored her, even though his head throbbed, took the bundle and went to change behind a tree. He had just shook off the wolf when there came a rustling noise through the small forest surrounding the park, he froze and listened intently.

"Hoooooeeeeeeeeeeee!! KERO-CHAN!!!"

_Hooee? What the heck is a Hooee? And Kero? A frog? _Syaoran tilted his head in puzzlement. More rustling and then an amber patch of hair and pink, _lots of pink_ Syaoran mused, tumbled out of the bushes, tripped over nothing that he could see, and sprawled out in the grass. "Sheesh Kero-chan, some guide you are, 'don't worry Sakura-chan, trust me' after all what could happen to a girl at night, wondering through the forest looking for a were-wolf, a blood thirsty were-wolf." The amber-haired and pink girl grumbled out. Emerald eyes connected with his amused amber eyes and Syaoran suddenly realized three things. Her eyes were like sunlight through green leaves in the Spring, also the girl had just mentioned were-wolves, which was supposed to be a secret to humans after all the damage control by Clow Reed, and he was still naked.

End of Chapter One.

Author: Sorry for leaving you naked there Syaoran...xD it wasn't intentional, I swear...

Author: Also, haven't been on in years, wonder what's changed...

A few things I should mention:

_--thoughts or emphasis-- in italics_

_--_"speech"-- in quotes

*Capitalized 'She' or 'Her' means it's Mother Nature possessed in Kaho-san.

**It's been a while since I've encountered Japanese san's, chan's and kun's, I don't quite remember how the suffixes work so if anyone has any suggestions or advice, please comment. Oh and with names when not mentioned out-loud, like in thoughts, they have no suffixes.

***Hooee is that cute sound Sakura makes, if you don't know about it, you're missing out... =) and this work is mostly characters from the anime.

Oh that note, thanks for reading and leave a comment if you want and constructive criticism, please don't just tell me 'it sucks' tell me why it 'sucks'. And be nice to me, this is a first, just like a doodle in words, please.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer is on the first page, I'm too lazy...**

Chapter Two

_How do these things keep happening to me?_ Sakura silently moped about her clumsiness for the umpteenth time. _I mean it was cute when I was a little girl but why do I get the feeling someone is playing a cosmic joke on me? _

This morning started out okay. _Well...as okay as someone like me gets, it's not as if being late for class or clubs or hhoooeeee... _Then everything went downhill, getting called into the teacher's office to help Takashi spin out his still-growing tall-tale so that he doesn't get into trouble. Until Chiharu showed up, Sakura was sweating buckets trying to back up Takashi's rampant story about a project due that morning, she was still amazed the teacher believed everything they said.

_And then Chiharu smacked Takashi a good one...wonder if he'll have his hearing back in that ear anytime soon..._ Sakura winced, she was beginning to feel sympathetic for Takashi after that hit.

A warning flag flared up in her brain, trying to break through the little mental reverie that her mind shot her into when she went straight to denial about stumbling upon a nakedman _and ooooh boy, was he naked and looking good too..._near the King Penguin Park. _It must be the hormones, this is a hallucination, who would be naked in a public-- wait a minute! _Alarm flashed through her, _this must be the were-wolf Kero-chan mentioned he sensed! _

Syaoran watched interestingly as the face of the girl, Sakura apparently, shifted from being pale to flushed pink, a rival of her outfit, and her eyes took on a dazed wide-eyed look which she shook off quickly before it became alarmed. _Her face is so expressive, I bet she wears her heart on her sleeve, _Syaoran mused. He quickly donned the grey-green sweats and T-shirt in his hands.

His amusement mounted when a moment later, Sakura took out a weird pink short-staff topped with a decorative end and started calling out for Fiery to burn him to a crisp. He snorted, _is she trying to send me to hell or something, I knew meeting a cute girl in the middle of the night meant she was psycho. _

His eyes widened as a burning phoenix roared toward him like a horseman of the Apocalypse. He twisted away so fast he landed a few feet away crouched with an ache starting in the middle of his back. Quickly glancing at the spot where he was just standing, he grimly noted the pile of ashes that could have been him. Even as he moved, his mind had been keeping track of what he originally thought was a phoenix but was a winged humanoid being, it turned around in mid-air and soared back at him.

Syaoran leaped with inhuman speed and gracefully tackled Sakura, tucking her in while trapping her and the wand against him so that she wouldn't be jostled. Sakura yelped as they went down and Fiery disintegrated back into a pink card which flew back into Sakura's pocket. She struggled a bit against his hold but was ignored as Syaoran stared, mesmerized by the soft bundle in his arms. _She has golden highlights in her hair...and she smells heavenly...mmm..._

"You don't have to set the forest on fire _just_ to show your displeasure, Syaoran-kun!" A shrill voice interrupted, proceeding Meiling as she stalked into view. "I smell the smoke and if you think I won't tell--" Meiling paused as she took in the scene and raised an eyebrow at Syaoran burying his nose in the neck of light brown-haired girl while pinning her to the forest floor. The thought _aw crap, Syaoran finally lost his sanity- _ran through her head before she disregarded it.

Meiling only had time to hear the girl let out a muffled, "let go of me!" before a golden-furred creature blew by with a _whomp _of its massive wings and sank its claws into Syaoran's back, tearing through grey fabric to the flesh underneath and yanking with a snarl on its fierce-some lion face. The creature's deep voice rumbled out, "release her or I'll mangle you!"

A growl broke through Syaoran's lips as, in a misguided attempt, he tried to shield Sakura from the creature thinking it was going to hurt her. He lashed out with one arm and elbowed, hard, the winged-lion on its ribs making it release its claws. The lion-like creature opened it's mouth and quickly inhaled, forming a fireball from its essence but was interrupted by a small voice saying, "Kero-chan! Wait!"

"_That's_ Kero-chan?! What would you call a rabid pit bull? Muffins?" Syaoran blew out in surprise. Sakura wrestled her way out of his now limp grip and ran to stand besides Kero. "I think he was trying to protect me..." She whispered into Kero's large round ears, standing on tip-toes while doing it.

Syaoran and Meiling both heard it with their 'sensitive' hearing and tried to reevaluate the situation. Meiling leaned over and said, "What should we do now?" Syaoran replied, "I don't know, never been in a situation quite like this, she knows about _us_..." Meiling's scarlet red eyes widened at the implications.

"Cast a tracking spell on her, we'll need to find her after we discuss this with the Clan. I'm going to call in a clean-up for the area for now..." Meiling said as she walked a few paces away to take her phone call. The golden eyes of Kero followed her with narrowed pupils, suspicious, as he curled his wings protectively around Sakura.

Syaoran turned his attention back to the curious emerald gaze of Sakura and they both blurt out at the same time.

"Who are you?"

"Sorry about your shirt!"

Syaoran paused and Sakura blushed, she had not meant to say that..."I mean...are you really a were-wolf?" She asked sternly. If he was one, she tightened her grip on her wand, then she would have to kill him. Ever since the death of her mother...Sakura shook her head, her mother, Nadeshiko, died a long time ago and it was hard to remember her since Sakura had only been three years old at the time but Toya, her brother, remembers and keeps a powerful hatred toward were-wolves, he was only somewhat comforted by his abilities to see ghosts, hence his mother. And then Kero-chan had started sensing were-wolves in the region...

Syaoran narrowed his eyes and tried to formulate an answer that wouldn't immediately provoke her to attack him. "I--"

"Syaoran-kun! We've got to go, Kaho-san has woken up, she had a _dream_" Meiling interrupted and the way she stressed 'dream' left no doubt that it meant the possessed Kaho has had another vision, another twist in the war. Syaoran's gaze hardened and without breaking eye contact with Sakura, he gestured a few times and muttered under his breath. Kero snarled and Sakura hesitated as she felt a slight tingle of subtle magic fall over her before the feeling disappeared. While they were distracted, Meiling slipped away leaving Syaoran to find his own exit. He followed up the tracking spell by calling upon the elements Earth and Wind to cover his escape with a small dust storm. Kero folded one wing over his face as protection and another wing over Sakura but she still felt the warm caress on the back of her head, fingers skimming over her hair and she shivered. The minor dust storm settled down leaving them alone and just then, dawn broke out in the sky, lightening it to a dusky pink.

End of Chapter Two

**Author:** That cosmic being playing a joke on Sakura is me, I'm sorry...=*( hehe. Also can't wait for Syaoran to know why exactly we call the great guardian, Kero-chan. *Schemes *

**Author:** Also thanks to for commenting. ^_^ *whew * At least someone likes it. And thanks to others for favoriting the story, even though I just started xD, I hope I won't disappoint T_T.

**Author:** If anyone finds mistakes or has advice tell me, I need to return to grammar school...

**Author: **Ack! This uploading and updating stories is so confusing, I think I've deleted something, but maybe not...err...must figure out!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Clow Reed watched the sunrise, somewhere else in the world, Eriol was probably doing the same, after all it had been something they had enjoyed together, before the complication of the curse had interrupted their lives. The encroaching light became a foil to his receding pupils and lit up the expanse of cobalt within his irises. The small garden situated in front of him began to come to life, birds joining in to greet the rising of the sun and outside the walls of the estate, the city took a breath, but not the piercing light nor the sounds penetrated through his dark brooding.

Brothers. In blood, in family and in sharing an accursed fate. Time hadn't diminished the memories, in fact they seem to grow stronger the more Clow tried to forget. It was the war, how it dragged on and like quicksand, snarled victims, innocent bystanders and the guilty, alike. He could see the tangle of lives that entwined together like a spiderweb, pulling one thread moved five others and those five affected ten. Clow had tried to reach out to Eriol, his younger brother hadn't understood what being bound by magic to a wolf meant, that there was another creature inside, one that had been wronged just as much as the human side. Eriol had protested giving up being a were-wolf, that there was no harm in having extra abilities. He had been willing to give up blood-lust but not the wolf, in the end, there were only two choices, for or against, and Eriol picked against.

The sounds of Syaoran and Meiling's return in the front of the house pulled him out of the dark path his mind had gone down. Clow knew exactly when they arrived in front of his door and put a gentle smile on his face and adjusted his robes. It seemed they were arguing over an incident.

"If Kero_-chan_ hadn't stopped you, no _excuse me_, totally kicked your _ass_, you would have been slobbering all over that girl! Where's your sense of respons--" Meiling ranted on before being cut off by Syaoran's retort, "Her name is Sakura and _My _sense of responsibility?! Weren't you supposed to be watching _my_ back? If that was kicking my _ass_, Kero_-chan _totally whupped yours, bypassing you like that. At least I could say I was distracted by a tasty morsel at the moment." _A really juicy, succulent morsel, I wish I had time to-- _

Clow slide open the door, breaking Syaoran's train of thoughts. "If you two want to argue outside the door and keep the elderly old man waiting on you, please at least lower your decibel levels so my fragile eardrums can survive intact for what I have left of my humble life."

"You haven't aged much at all in a long long long time Clow-san, magic at its best, I'd say Meiling has more wrinkles than you" Syaoran snorted.

Clow watched fascinated as Meiling turn different shades of red, purple and blue and decided to step in before he had to replace his door, again. He glanced at his wooden paper wall and sliding door, noting all the patches and mismatched off-white pieces glued on over huge tears and rents caused by frequent fights breaking out. On second thought, maybe he should just let them destroy the whole thing, a renovation was in order...but not enough time for now.

"Alright you two, break it up and not each other. Kaho-san is not to be kept waiting. Her visions are important, an advantage we need. Let's adjourn to the meeting room." He ushered them ahead of him, watching their backs just in case, no doubt all the important members of the Clan are already there, nothing much escapes the heighten senses of a bunch of were-wolves.

Kaho, as an avatar had strange personality traits, she would often lose track of things but she was hyper-focused and calm when possessed, to the point of having a subtle aura. As the meeting settled in, she ran her gaze over the people in the room, the champagne colour of her eyes flashing as the goddess inside took over.

"A nightmare."

The room silenced at her words.

"My vision was of a gathering of the rogues, our killing of their members have finally caught up with the growth rate of their packs. They are being called together to eradicate the threat we represent against their bloody hunts. We have only been encountering pups, as the older members throw them in to distract us. It's time to gather our Clan too, we must find Eriol." Kaho stated slowly, meeting the eyes of the crowd.

At hearing Eriol's name, Clow's heart leapt unevenly and beat faster. "We must hurry, start the process, this meeting is over. Syaoran, Meiling, and Clow, please stay, I must speak with you three."

The meeting filed out, murmuring among themselves until the last person slide close the door and their footsteps receded. Kaho sat down on a mat, and closed her eyes, waited a beat before announcing, "I had another dream, this one was..." She turned her head from side to side slowly, then tilted it in puzzlement, "distorted as if the person was protected by magic. In it, there was a girl, with a great guardian beast bearing the Sun and a winged-protector wielding the Moon. Around her floated glowing pieces of cards that seem to simmer and block my sight. I feel she is important, but I can't _see _how..." Kaho trailed off in frustration. "I want Syaoran to watch out for this girl and Meiling, you should travel with Syaoran."

Meiling rolled her eyes.

"We've already met a girl fitting some of the description, except we haven't see the Moon protector. I left a tracking spell on her, she should be easy to locate again" Syaoran reported. _Can't wait_...Syaoran smirked, _it seems Sakura and I are destined to meet, reason enough for me._

Kaho nodded slowly, "Yes...you can both go now...Clow, stay." The two headed out the door and left Clow alone with Kaho.

"Clow...about Eriol..."

Clow sighed, "I know..." The two fell silent.

End of Chapter 3

**Author:** Ack, I was hoping to get to Sakura, oh well, next chapter. This chapter's kinda meh but I had to introduce some people.

**Author: **I know I'm inflating Kero-chan's ego about his 'beastliness' but I do feel that in the anime, he didn't get time to show off his big form much.

**Author: **Same message as the previous two chapters, any mistakes, tell me, I already caught some and eradicated those suckers *evil laugh * Any advice too, please let me know.

Thanks for reading up to here and thanks reviewers, it's greatly appreciated. ^_^


	4. Chapter 4

**Author:** m z . r a n d o m asked if Kaho is the leader of the Clan.

Kaho is not the leader of the Clan per se but because she is actually the one who houses the avatar, Goddess of Nature, everyone gathers around her. She is trying to clean up her own mess and employs the Li Clan as help. Since it is sort of modern times, the Clan doesn't function with just one leader, they usually have meetings to choose the wisest course of action with the oldest most experienced members leading and in this situation Kaho's visions give her a lead and so the Clan defers to her because she has the most information. Otherwise, someone like Clow Reed would help lead.

**Author: **I give up on Japanese suffixes! *throws it out a window * On another note, defenestration means the act of throwing someone out the window.

Chapter Four

Sakura slowly swung open the front door, she had been using the proper entrance for a while now, ever since she began coming home too exhausted to climb the tree to her window. A familiar light snoring rolled through the silence of the house, _that's probably Toya, he stayed up again to wait for me... _Sakura quietly shut the door on the early morning light spilling into the house. She found Toya sitting in the living room, his head resting on the top of the sofa, brown hair hanging over the edge, and mouth hanging open in the middle of a snore. Her jade eyes softened at the sight and she tip-toed over to the closet to grab a blanket for him. Leaving the blanket on him and after placing a soft kiss on his forehead, she whispered, "I'm sorry Toya." Sakura stood there for a moment, then padded silently upstairs where Kero was already waiting for her.

Behind her on the sofa, Toya stared up at the ceiling, relief spreading through him that Sakura made it home safe again. The wall clock ticked away the seconds and soon he drifted off to sleep.

"Sakura, you have to be careful now, they know who you are now. I wish you hadn't stopped me from tearing apart that brat. I could have taken him." Kero said for the third time. Sakura sighed, again."I know Kero, I'll keep an eye out, meanwhile I'm going to be late for class because my shower took too long and I promised Tomoyo I was going to meet her at the gate, I don't want to make her late too."

Sakura quickly ran her brush through her shoulder length hair in a practised manner. The mirror reflected the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes, oddly enough making her emerald eyes seem brighter. Throwing the brush on the bed, she snatched her bag off the back of the chair and blew out of the room, closing the door on the way out. Kero stared after her worriedly.

Tomoyo listened as the school bell tolled, sending deep reverberations to her ears.

_Ding DONG Ding Dong _

She smiled to herself, _Sakura never changes does she? But, that's what we like about her, I better get my camera ready, ho ho ho ho, I see her skating at full speed toward me, OH! Watch out for that biker! __Whew, she's really agile, why isn't she like that off the skates?_

Adjusting the zoom on her camera, she followed Sakura as she got closer and closer. _Wow I love my new Canon 5D Mark II__, you can even see each of Sakura's individual long lashes. _

Sakura skidded to a stop besides the still-filming Tomoyo and waited a beat to catch her breath. "Tomoyo, I'm so sorry, I'll make it up to you!" Sakura huffed out.

"You worry too much Sakura, I can see the dark circles under your eyes. Come on, let's get to class" Tomoyo replied while ushering Sakura through the gates and into the building.

The school day moved slowly, a boring contrast to her nightly activities but it presented a normality Sakura sometimes wished she had. As she sat in her desk near the window, she listened to the other students around her talk excitedly about end of the year activities for the graduation ceremony. _Oh! Right, I probably have to prepare for college entrance exams soon..._Her thoughts drifted to the last night's events, _I think his name was Syaoran, the other girl called him that...he looks like he practices a lot of martial arts, he moves so fluidly and wow, did you see the way his muscles—_Sakura shook her head, hard.

"What's up Sakura? You looked like you're thinking about a guy, could this be why you have dark circles under your eyes?" Tomoyo cut in with a knowing smile.

_Whoa...sometimes Tomoyo is scary... _Sakura laughed nervously, "No...." She didn't add more to her reply because trying to lie to Tomoyo was like withholding meat from a blood hound.

Math class rolled around, the teacher droned on and on in monotone and the rhythmic clicking of chalk on the black board created the perfect atmosphere for naps. Sleep deprivation caught up to Sakura as her head drooped, jerked upwards as she caught herself from slipping into unconsciousness, then thudded down on her arms. Her seat by the window provided a warm breeze, lulling her guard down. _The sunlight feels so good..._her thoughts trailed off into la la land.

Syaoran stood below an aging school building in the courtyard. He scanned the windows, finally homing in on a familiar magical signature, the one belonging to Sakura. Even as he watched, Sakura's head bobbed up and down, her eye lids drooping formed a crescent against her cheeks with lashes. She finally succumbed to sleep, putting her head down on her crossed arms. Her shoulders barely moved as she breathed gently in and out. The breeze through the open window played with her curls and the sun highlighted her auburn hair into dusted gold.

From his vintage point along with his improved eye sight, he could see the dark circles under her eyes. He frowned,_ wonder how long since she's had a good nights sleep, we should have noticed the increased traffic of rogue wolves in this area. _Syaoran made a mental note to ask around with the others. He found himself worry over Sakura meeting a were-wolf from the wrong side before he could stop himself. _She looks so delicate but she could hold her own..._Syaoran was remembering the fire she had blasted at him.

Just then, Sakura's head jerked up along with her whole body, upsetting her chair and she blurted out, "Hoooeee! Syaoran!" The students near the windows all turned to look at her and giggle. Syaoran chuckled to himself as Sakura blushed a deep red and sat down fast. _Well, at least I made an impression on her, although I wish I hadn't done it naked, there's always time for that later..._

The teacher took one look at Sakura's blushing face, noticed how tired she was and dismissed Sakura from class with orders to get notes from Tomoyo. Sakura slowly packed up her pencil case, books and half-written notes with doodles on the sides of Kero. She turned briefly to her neighbor that Syaoran couldn't see from his angle and said apologetically, "Sorry Tomoyo, I did it again, I'm going to go home, I'm not feeling well, I'll call you." As Sakura disappeared from view, Syaoran decided to settle down outside the gates to wait for her.

Sakura clipped on her roller-blades and put the regular shoes into her locker. As she stepped out into the afternoon sun, she inhaled and sighed gustily, then skated out across the courtyard, heading for the gate. As she turned the corner, she shot out one arm to the gate to swing her around and smacked right into a solid warm wall that reached out to steady her before she stumbled back.

"Sorry! Are you oka--" She stopped rubbing her nose to look up into familiar amber eyes on a face that she knew, somehow, she could pick out from a crowd of people. She blushed at remembering what else she'd seen that had been burned into her memories.

Syaoran seem to tighten his grip on her before letting go. "Hello Sakura, we meet again." The corner of his mouth turned up in amusement. "I see you're still carving a path of destruction through town, first the park forest, now mowing down pedestrians on the sidewalk."

Sakura was speechless. Syaoran took advantage by adding with gravity, "I was waiting for you, we need to talk." She felt a warmth spread through her at the thought of him waiting for her until school ended. _This is silly, Tomoyo waits for me too...but this just feels different. _She caught up to his words and replied calmly, "Yes, we do, I have a lot of questions for you. I'm sure since you've tracked me here, you know where I live, let's talk there." She was about to start on her way when he stopped her.

Syaoran couldn't help grinning as he offered her a hand, "I'll walk with you, but I'll need to hold on to you for insurance, wouldn't want something to happen to you before you satisfy my curiosity." When Sakura hesitated, he added for good measure, "Don't worry, I only bite on certain occasions..." He smirked when her breathing hitched a little and to prove that she wasn't worried, she joined her hands with his. It was warm and had little calluses, and it wrapped around her smaller hand gently, almost protectively.

He began walking and she skated slowly besides him, neither saying a word.

Above, within the school building, Tomoyo clicked off her recording camcorder and smiled to herself. _Oh ho ho ho ho, so I WAS right, Sakura found a guy, this marks a new chapter in her life, I can't wait to get home, better start planning out her dating outfits, maybe even some lingerie, for those unknown occasions. _"Tomoyo, please answer question two." The teacher's voice cut through her scheming and without hesitation she answered, "8! is equal to 8 × 7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1, which equals 40320. Anything else, Sensei?" The teacher was stopped by the glint in Tomoyo's eyes and stuttered out, "N-no, that's all..." He turned back to the board to add another problem and Tomoyo went back to her inner dilemma._ Yes, that outfit would fit Sakura perfectly, so cute..._

An abandoned warehouse sat forlornly at the edge of the industrial sector, scraps of metal and garbage littered the ground around it. Here and there, twisted branches of trees broke through concrete and their gnarled roots usurped the once carefully laid out stone path. The messenger sent to report to Eriol, shuddered, feeling a million eyes on him but when he looked, nothing was there. Somewhere to his left, the drip, drip, drip of a leaking faucet echoed in his ear like a grandfather clock, striking an hour. Without looking, his foot kicked a rusted iron rod, causing it to topple into a metal sheet, creating a deafening noise. He jumped and snarled in fear, backing away a few paces before he caught himself. A flock of crows burst out of the tree above him, startling him into a growl and he lashed out in retaliation, catching a crow in his hands.

The black feathered animal struggled in his hands, heart beating fast, and its chest rising and falling rapidly, kicking its legs in the air to try and turn over. The messenger crushed its chest then proceeded to dig nails into the neck, twisting and snapping the crow's head off in a quick motion until it hung on bloody sinews. He flung the still twitching crow aside and continued into the warehouse, the sudden darkness blinding him as his irises adjusted to the gloom.

He scanned the few feet in front of him that he could see, the floor covered in scattered pieces of the roof that was caved in a little. Directly ahead, an oily darkness seem to block his eye sight even though, his was better than most. _Magic..._it whispered and suddenly he was afraid.

Even as the messenger watched, two distant glints in the dark caught his eye. Cold gleaming turquoise was slowly revealed as black eye lids slide upwards, sharp pupils appeared and focused, unblinking, at him. He shuffled back a step at the malevolence leaking from the stare and the pair of eyes rose up and up without breaking eye contact as whatever creature it was stood. A deep rumbling growl rolled out of the darkness, vibrating the floor he stood on, white teeth emerged underneath turquoise and slide wider to show long curved fangs, well practised in crushing skulls.

"Speak!" A baritone voiced barked out. The teeth disappeared for a moment before appearing again, it only took a second for the messenger to match the voice to the action.

"I-I've come to report my pack has moved within range of Tomoeda, the town you instructed us to gather in." His voice broke a little in the middle.

"I gave no such instructions..." The voice waited a bit as the messenger squirmed, "My master did. I shall inform him, you may leave." The messenger did not need to be told twice and scrambled out of the place like his tail was on fire.

Spinel Sun, the creature, started purring at having accomplished his task before being interrupted by a melodious voice. "Suuuupppppppiiii! Oi! Suppi! Suuuuuppiiiii! Try this, I made a new batch of cookies earlier, you can be the lucky first to try a bite!" Ruby Moon skipped into his view, her long red hair swinging and started shoving a cookie sheet into his face. Spinel's panther-like face curled in disgust and carefully keeping his mouth shut, he padded back a few steps away from Ruby.

"Get my name right! And you know I can't eat sweets, why do you keep shoving them at me? Go away, you're supposed to be watching Eriol." Spinel grounded out and for the millionth time, he wished she feared him as much as everyone else does.

"Just a bite won't kill anyone...I worked so hard on them." Ruby pouted. Spinel gritted his teeth at remembering the last time she stuck some sweets into his roasted dinner. He had become drunk on sugar and proceeded to blast away sections of the roof, causing a slight cave-in. He fluttered his huge butterfly wings in irritation and ignoring her begging, went to find Eriol.

His master had shut himself up in an isolated room lately, brooding about what was to come but he was acting weirdly. Sometimes, Spinel felt another darker influence, as if this world was the stage and Eriol was a puppet, the dark threads all but invisible to another puppet. This latest order to move to Tomoeda was strange, it was a small town, nothing significant, and telling the were-wolves to keep a low profile was even more mysterious, only those do-gooders in the Li Clan resisted carnage, they cut off their blood-thirsty nature to pander to their conscience. Spinel shrugged his furry shoulders, moving his wings in the motion and stopped to knead his claws into the ground. _Better not disturb Eriol, never know what might happen if I interrupted his planning. I'll wait for him to come out, for now._

End of Chapter Four

**Author's Notes:**

* I don't know if Tomoyo's camcorder is a good one, maybe.

* _Oh ho ho ho ho _ is Tomoyo's special laugh

* Should I change the age rating for this story? I've never rated a story before and I don't know what is appropriate or not.

* Interesting fact, a spinel is in fact a diamond shaped gem, like the one on Spinel's forehead.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author:** Thanks everyone, for reviewing and subscribing!

**Author: ** M r s . R a d c l i f f e 1 3 , glad you like my random notes xD. I forgot what I was going to put in originally because it took me a while to write the chapter. I'll try and make longer chapters! While I was writing chapter four, I thought I had done a lot since it was like four pages in OpenOffice but when I uploaded it, well...it shrunk like fingers do, in the bathtub, after a long time. Next chapter...*doubled-space everything!! * I'm kidding, ha ha.

**Author:** I used to think bemused and amused were the same thing. Bemused actually meant puzzled. Now, I've gotta go back and re-read every book with that word in it, in a new light.

Chapter Five

Yukito Tsukishiro hummed to himself as he walked home from the grocery store. _I've got toast, French bread, sweet bread, ham, cheese slices, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, some bacon for later..._ He ran through a long list of items held in the brown paper bags he was holding. _Maybe Toya would like some later, I'll pack a few sandwiches for him, I only need six after all. Oh shoot, forgot to buy something to drink, maybe I'll buy some juice before meeting Toya, there won't be time after our job starts. Hey isn't that Sakura? She's walking with a friend...that's odd, it's not Tomoyo._

He stood there for a moment, pondering if he should catch their attention and say hello to Sakura. He decided to gauge their moods. Sakura was looking down at her hand with a bemused expression on her face, Yukito realized she was holding hands with a young man, who seemed only a little older than her and had a grin on his face like the cat who got the cream. _Maybe I better leave them alone..._Even as he turned to walk away, Sakura noticed him and called out, "Yukito! Hi!"

_Uh oh, I was caught. _Yukito turned around and smiled at Sakura, "Hey Sakura, I was just getting groceries." He lifted up his arms full with three large bags, almost overflowing with food. Yukito glanced curiously at her friend. Sakura noticed and introduced him, "This is Syaoran, he's a....friend. Syaoran, this is Yukito Tsukishiro." The pause didn't escape Yukito's notice and he glanced at their joined hands. Sakura blushed and hoped Yukito won't mention this to her brother.

"Urmm...so are you and Toya are working late tonight? Is that what the snacks are for?" She asked. Yukito replied with warmth, "Yeah, Toya takes so many jobs, he never finds time to pack a decent lunch or extra snacks, so I bought more stuff." Sakura was grateful, "Thanks for taking care of him."

Syaoran followed their exchange warily, _who's this person and what's Sakura's relation to this Toya guy? _He was surprised to find a tiny seed of jealousy growing, after all, he _had _barged into her life and shouldn't be surprised if she had a boyfriend. It was probably too much to hope that other guys won't notice the kind and beautiful person she was. He studied Yukito's face closely, _not bad looking, he's pale all over, even has dark grey hair. _He was looking into Yukito's honey brown eyes when the hair on the back of his neck suddenly stood on ends. Something was peering through at Syaoran, studying him too, with icy, crystal silver eyes. _He's not what he seems..._Syaoran tightened his grip on Sakura's hand, and swallowed a growl threatening to burst out of his throat.

Sakura glanced at Syaoran's tight expression and decided to cut her conversation short. "It was nice seeing you, Yukito, we're gonna head off, lots of things to do. Tell Toya not to work too hard, okay?"

Yukito seemed puzzled but replied, "Sure Sakura, talk to you another time and it was nice to meet you Syaoran." Syaoran gave a stiff nod while Sakura waved good bye. Yukito headed off, his mind already occupied with what sandwiches he was planning on making when he got home. When he was out of sight, Sakura turned to Syaoran, "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. She was unconsciously rubbing little semi-circles on his hand with her thumb. Syaoran relaxed now that Yukito was gone and pretended to grimace in pain. "My back aches a little, it was probably from dodging your fiery attack last night."

"What should I do?" Sakura asked apologetically. "Can you rub my back a little?" She hesitated and he added, "Please." She falteringly put her hand between his shoulder blades and started rubbing in a clock-wise pattern.

"A little lower, I think it was a muscle in my lower back...please" Syaoran grinned while her attention was focused on rubbing downwards. "Lower..."

She flushed a deep red as she caught on and punched his arm, just in case he really was injured in the back. Syaoran chuckled as a red-faced Sakura skated away, making him run to catch up. They stopped at a local bakery for Sakura to pick up a small delicious looking strawberry cake and much to Syaoran's amusement, she didn't slow down for him.

Sakura unlocked the front door and let Syaoran in, still amazed he wasn't the least bit out of breath after jogging besides her and not lagging behind at all. She perched on the edge of the step in the shoes area and took off her skates, watching Syaoran politely take off his shoes. After handing him a pair of green indoor slippers, she put on her pink straw ones and marched into the kitchen and dining. Syaoran followed, glancing at everything on the way, hoping to learn more about Sakura.

"Please sit down, I'm going to get tea started, would you like anything?" Sakura inquired as she moved around in the kitchen taking down cups, a tea pot, and tea leaves from various cabinets. Syaoran studied the frilly pink apron she donned over her white school blouse and dark skirt and smirked, "Anything?..." Sakura blushed and corrected herself, "I meant, to drink. Tea, water, cold juice or soda?"

"Tea is fine, since you're already making it. What was the cake for?" Syaoran asked.

"You'll see..." She said cryptically and then raised her voice, "KERO!! Come have cake, I bought it fresh!"

_KERO?! _Syaoran looked around alarmed, expecting a giant beast to lunge out at him. Instead he heard a small _thump _upstairs and a tiny high-pitched voice yelling and getting louder as the source came closer. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaayyy!! Sakura, you always know how to treat me special! Does it have those huge strawbe--"

A yellow ball flew to a stop at the doorway to the dining room, it had tiny white wings attached to its back and a long tail ending in a white tuft of fur. Beady black eyes focused on Syaoran from the front of a round head with similar teddy bear ears on top, twitching in curiosity at finding a guest. Then an unholy light flared in its eyes as recognition dawned between the two. Syaoran toppled his chair backwards as he stood up fast and pointed at the-- "stuffed animal that talks! That's Kero? That's the beast that attacked me?!"

Meanwhile, Kero was in a similar pose, he had floated backwards a little in surprise and was pointing a tiny paw at Syaoran, "That brat from last night!!"

Syaoran doubled over in laughter and clutched his stomach. Sakura deftly stepped between them and held up a plate with a slice of cake on top and a fork. "Don't transform Kero, I can explain, first have some cake." Kero eyed the cake but wouldn't be put off, "I just told you this morning to be careful! What were you thinking when you brought him home?" Sakura looked chagrined but explained how Syaoran had tracked her down and he would have eventually known where she lived anyways. Kero calmed a little and took the cake to settle across the table from Syaoran, who was still twitching on the floor. "Didn't I always tell you to expect the unexpected? I was right." Kero said with his mouth full.

Sakura put a napkin in front of him and said, "If I'm to expect the unexpected, that makes the unexpected expected, so this shouldn't surprise you." She left Kero to work through that, and put a slice of cake in front of the recovered Syaoran and served tea.

"Now, what would you like to know Syaoran?" Sakura asked, her hands around a cup of tea.

"How long have you been after werewolves?" He asked immediately.

Sakura paused a little before answering, "...I've been looking for werewolves, ever since I was old enough to understand they were the reason my mother died. I never witnessed the murder, but my brother Toya did..." She trailed off. Syaoran felt a brief relief that Toya was only her brother before a surge of anger at the rogue wolves surfaced. "I'm sorry about your mother..." He clenched his fists at the sadness on her face and promised to beat the hell out of the next rogue he found. Syaoran cupped his hands around hers to try and comfort her. "Thank you...in some ways, I'm better off than Toya, he was older and knew her longer, I was only three but from what I know, she was a gentle person and didn't deserve th-the...way she died" Sakura finished awkwardly.

Syaoran winced, most rogues killed gruesomely...

"Was this your mother?" He gestured at the picture to the side with a vase of flowers next to it. The frame held a beautiful woman with large, sparkling beryl eyes, dressed in a flowing white dress, her long blue-grey hair curled down her back like a waterfall. She looked happy in the picture, her gaze focused somewhere off camera, love in her eyes and showing in the way she glowed.

"Yes, she was a model, one of the best, she and my father were deeply in love. He was a professor and she was his student, but it turned out well. Remind me to tell you, one day, how they met, it's a lovely story..." Sakura smiled gently while she softly touched the glass above her mother's face. Syaoran solemnly said, "I won't forget." Sakura turned her smile to him his heart skipped a beat at the tenderness in them. Sakura cleared her throat.

"What about you, Syaoran, are you a...werewolf?" She asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer. Syaoran took a chance, looked into her emerald eyes and answered gravely, "Yes...I am, are you going to kill me now?"

The tension in the room thickened and Kero prepared for the worse but Sakura, without breaking eye contact with Syaoran, held up a hand to stop him.

She started falteringly, "I've...never actually killed a werewolf before...knowing you changes things, now my nameless enemy has a face..." Sakura closed her eyes. "In the first place, Kero was never meant to track down were-wolves, he was meant to protect me, as his Mistress, and is the guardian of whoever wields the cards that are the basis of my powers...We've never come face to face with the enemy, only just miss them or pass over their location." Syaoran mentally sighed in relief. "I'm glad, ...rogue werewolves are no laughing matter, you saw how fast I got to you, I may be better trained than most but we are dangerous creatures, especially the rogues, they won't hesitate to eliminate threats."

Sakura nodded, "Your speed at dodging Fiery was amazing, I didn't expect you to come at me like that and you also have control over the elements."

"Yes, I used to use Fulus, paper talismans, but I've progressed over that, magic runs in my family." Syaoran said. "Being a werewolf is actually a curse, the soul of a wolf and the soul of a human are bound together by ancient magic at birth. It's unnatural."

Syaoran looked at Sakura and Kero, both were absorbed in his story of the origins of werewolves. He continued, "We were cursed by a Goddess of Nature, one who hated how humans multiplied endlessly and ruthlessly took from the Earth. Unlike animals who take only what they needed, humans took more and more because they were able to see further into the future and decided to gather supplies to prepare for events to come. However, She saw that humans also strip-mined the earth, out of greed for precious metals and rocks, destroying entire lands, causing chain reactions that worsened over time."

Syaoran paused to take a breath and continued, "My family started out as the Li Clan, we were a section of the cursed werewolves that was able to control the blood lust She set upon us at birth. We convinced Her humans are a part of the Earth as much as Her other children, the animals and plants. Some of us might not be respectful of the land or are ignorant but we were simply utilizing the tools given to us for survival. Instead of letting werewolves hunt and kill innocent or guilty humans in-discriminatory, She might be better off teaching us a way to co-exist."

"Long story shortened, She was weakened and lost control before lifting the curse. Now we help her hunt the rogues, the ones who refuse to control themselves or are addicted to blood lust." Syaoran finished.

Sakura and Kero were silent, mulling this over. Suddenly Sakura noticed that it had gotten late and the sun was setting, about time she usually started cooking supper. She collected the empty cups and plates and dumped out her own cold tea that she never drank. She turned to Syaoran, "Would you like to stay for dinner? I usually cook for my brother and I, when it's not his turn, and Kero, of course, but Toya is going to be home late tonight so I usually leave his portion in the refrigerator."

"Yes, please." Syaoran said, happy she asked. Kero let out a stiff '_humph'_ and went to perch on Sakura's right shoulder, keeping an eye on her and Syaoran. Sakura smiled and got to work getting out pans, pots and food materials. Syaoran offered to set the table and she handed him the plates, napkins and utensils. A hour and a half passed with them working in synchronicity, Syaoran chopping and Sakura preparing and cooking. Finally, she left the pots and pans in the sink filled with water and the three of them settled down to eat. Kero didn't hesitate to dig in, the aroma of rich tomato sauce on top of the lightly, steaming strands of spaghetti with meat balls drifted around the table.

Syaoran had just taken a delicious mouthful when the three panel window in the living room burst inwards, spraying the sofa and couch with glass shards. Some tiny shards flew as far as the dining room but bounced off a semi-transparent shield. Syaoran glanced at Sakura, checking if she was okay but her wand was already out, having summoned a Shield. He turned back to the intruders and let out a thunderous growl, displeasure on every note, that Sakura felt rumbling from standing next to him.

Kero burst forth from his winged cocoon, a roar already on his lips, his nose ridge bunched into an angry snarl. He immediately tackled one of the six werewolves and ripped into the grey wolf's side with wild abandon, claws a deadly scalpel and wings sprayed with blood.

Syaoran leapt over the tangle of Kero and enemy, changed in mid-air, ripped through his constraining clothing and with brown fur covering him, landed atop a distracted black wolf. He sank his wickedly curved fangs into the black wolf's neck and hung on, crushing its breathing passage, then with a wrench ripped the throat out, splattering fur and blood across the wall.

As soon as Kero had transformed, Sakura had called on the Wood, to trap two of the wolves in entangling branches and roots, then called the Sleep to knock them out. She turned around in time to see a red wolf leap at her with fangs dripping and yellow eyes gleaming with glee before its open jawed muzzle was smashed into the wall by a flying jump kick from Meiling.

"Oh! I am _soooo_ pissed at you Syaoran!! This is what happens when you try to lose me, I always find you later, in trouble!" Meiling screamed at Syaoran's general direction before she turned and smacked the sixth wolf's astonished face, punctuating each punch with a sound, "Argh! Grr! You! Stu-! Pid-! Prick!" Sakura blinked and backed away from the ferocity of Meiling using the wolf as a punching bag for her frustrations.

Syaoran whined in wolf form, and Meiling whirled on him, "YOU! Yooouuuuu!" She narrowed her eyes when he tried to give her puppy eyes with his tongue lolling out the side of his jaw. Meiling shuddered, "Ewww, please don't do that with blood on your mouth, that just makes it creepy beyond all measure." Syaoran abruptly stopped in embarrassment.

Kero moved behind Sakura to protect her and additionally keep an eye on the knocked out wolves. Meiling turned to Sakura, "When Syaoran changes back, he'll need clothes, not to mention a shower, if you don't mind?..." Sakura nodded and said, "Shower is upstairs and I'll get some of Toya's old sweats for you." She picked her way carefully across the floor littered with glass, blood and bodies. Syaoran padded after her, claws clicking on the wooden floor leaving a trail of bloody smudged prints. Meiling started picking up the glass while listening for any neighbours or the police approaching. Kero silently watched her.

Sakura led Syaoran to the bathroom down the hall, pausing midway to grab sweats and an old T-shirt from Toya's room. She left him inside the bathroom with instructions on how to adjust the water for the shower stall and where the soap was. When the sounds of water being turned on and draining started, Sakura leaned back against the wall opposite the bathroom door and sank down, putting her head on her knees. The adrenaline was wearing off and her hands were shaking. Soon her entire body was shuddering in horror.

Syaoran opened the bathroom door, spilling out warm steam and paused in the middle of towelling his hair dry. He came out, lifted her up and hugged her to him, tucking her head under his chin. Her shaking receded a little as he gently rubbed her back in a comforting motion, up and down, up and down. "Shhhhhh, it's okay..." He continued to make soothing noises until she stopped shuddering altogether.

Sakura was enveloped in heat, she breathed in Syaoran's male scent and soap while the lingering warmth from the shower sank into her body, calming it. She went limp in his arms, suddenly worn out from the day's events. Syaoran easily held her slight weight against him and continued to rub her back. She gathered the remains of her energy and tried to pull away, "I still have to clean up the living room and the kitchen..." Her body gave a violent shudder as she remembered the blood splattering on the wall. Syaoran tightened his grip on her and said, "Forget it, I probably led them to you, so it's my fault, my mess, I'll clean up." To finish the debate, he swung her into his arms, so that she wouldn't have to step through the bloody paw prints and went to the door with the pink paper sakura petals. He stayed long enough for her to fall asleep, not taking long at all because as soon as her head hit the bed, she passed out, overwhelmed.

Syaoran got a used rag from the hamper and started wiping up the blood on the wooden floor. When he got downstairs, he saw that Meiling had already picked most of the glass up and closed the curtains. He handed her a rag to wipe the blood away, the hardest being the splattered wall. He gave up after doing the best he could but the wall was left with a faint pink tinge to it, only really visible from the side. As they worked on storing the uneaten food and washing the dishes, they discussed the attack. "It was definitely planned well, no neighbours even came over to check the noise, though we did end it quickly, and no signs of the police. Could they be after Sakura?" Meiling pondered. Syaoran remained silent and Kero just split his attention between the conversation and the sleeping hostages.

Suddenly, Syaoran slammed his palm on the counter top in anger, "I should have been more careful, what if something had happened to her? It's unthinkable...I keep letting my guard down around Sakura." His voice softened as he mentioned Sakura's name.

Meiling rolled her eyes and exchanged a glance with Kero, who rolled his shoulders in a shrug, ruffling his wings. Just then, one of the unconscious wolves started to stir, ears and paws twitching. Syaoran's head shot up and like a blood hound, honed in on the waking wolf. He stalked over and using a violent twist of magic, forced the wolf to recede and the human to emerge. A man appeared naked, curled into a fetal-position on the floor where the wolf was. He looked up into Syaoran's cold amber eyes and saw Death, personified, and whimpered. A slow feral grin spread across Syaoran's face as he said, "Let's talk."

End of Chapter Five.

**Author's Notes:**

*I heard "Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected?" from somewhere, I don't know where, I credit whoever came up with it.

*It always astonishes me that Cardcaptor Sakura came to America as 'Cardcaptor' and they cut out Sakura and Syaoran's love story because they deemed it inappropriate BUT they kept Chiharu's abuse of Takashi, (a.k.a. She strangles him) and just explained it away as sibling rivalry between cousins.

*I tried to make it longer but my eyes are burning xD I give up! *splashes water on her face *

* Tell me if anyone wants to change the rating ha ha, maybe it's too violent.


End file.
